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School leadership and challenges of the 21st century

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Ferit Hysa
Dardania College, Prishtina, Kosova
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 School leadership and challenges of the 21st century

Dr. Ferit Hysa

Department of Psychology, Dardania College, Kosovo

Email: ferithysa@gmail.com; ferithysa@kolegjidardania.com

ABSTRACT

Education is a very important area for investment and development prospects of families and
society. In the 21st century, the challenges are many and varied education for the
contemporary citizen, the citizen to cope terms of new circumstances that surround him.
Investing in education is the key to success. Educational results depend heavily on the
leadership and development of school leadership to meet the needs of society.
Decentralization of educational structures, decentralization of powers and increased
responsibility of school leaders requires a new school structure and a new leadership in
education.

Keywords: education, leadership, school leadership, decentralism, school.

 School leadership and challenges of the 21st century

Introduction

From day to day, from year to year, increasingly, the necessity of an efficient education to
cope with the challenges of the 21st century.

Education, education is a very important issue that has supported the development of society
at all times. Through the education of the society, his elite has not been able to build a better
society but also to lead the society towards the new developments necessary and to give way
to the economic and social problems of society. Society itself through education and solving
many problems of integration and well-being for many of its citizens. Although education has
existed all the time and society has spent a lot on it, it will spill over time, money and
funding, but we see a great lack of its effectiveness. Intellectual thinking should be more
dedicated to finding the most effective ways of supporting and carrying out education. This is
a very wide sphere, but we are focusing on the development of school leadership as an aspect
of support and instrument of development of education and education.

Definitions of school leadership

Leithwood (1999) contend that there is no agreed definition of the concept of leadership.
Yukl (2002, pp.4–5) adds that “the definition of leadership is arbitrary and very subjective.
Some definitions are more useful than others, but there is no ‘correct’ definition.” Cuban
(1988, p.190) says that “there are more than 350 definitions of leadership but no clear and
unequivocal understanding as to what distinguishes leaders from non-leaders”. However,
given the widely accepted significance of leadership for school effectiveness (Daresh 1998,
NCSL 2001a, Sammons et al 1995, Sheppard 1996) and for school improvement (Stoll and
Fink 1996, Hallinger and Heck 1999), it is important to establish at least a working definition
of this complex concept. As Beare, Caldwell and Millikan (1989) emphasise:

Outstanding leadership has invariably emerged as a key characteristic of outstanding schools.

There can no longer be doubt that those seeking quality in education must ensure its presence
and that the development of potential leaders must be given high priority. (Beare, Caldwell
and Millikan 1989, p.99).
From observations find out very clear that quality in education has a very important
component to be influenced. It is the school leadership. The below It will see some qualities
or element to leadership.

Leadership as influence

A central element in many definitions of leadership is that there is a process of influence.

Leithwood et al (1999, p.6) say that “influence… seems to be a necessary part of most
conceptions of leadership”. Yukl (2002, p.3) explains this influence process: “Most
definitions of leadership reflect the assumption that it involves a social influence process
whereby intentional influence is exerted by one person [or group] over other people [or
groups] to structure the activities and relationships in a group or organisation”.

Given the schools, there is nothing else but an organization where people have an important
part in communicating, interacting and structuring them and their activity to accomplish their
mission, goals, or goals, I think school leadership is very important as an influence that
improves the school and enhances its effectiveness.

Yukl’s use of ‘person’ or ‘group’ serves to emphasise that leadership may be exercised by
teams as well as individuals. This view is reinforced by Harris (2002) and Leithwood (2001)
who both advocate distributed leadership as an alternative to traditional top-down leadership
models. Ogawa and Bossert (1995, pp.225–26) also state that leadership involves influence
and agree that it may be exercised by anyone in an organisation. “It is something that flows
throughout an organisation, spanning levels and flowing both up and down hierarchies.”

The concept of leadership, person and structure that supports leadership must be embedded.
Therefore, the formation and development of leadership is very important for leadership to
have effective schooling and effective leadership.

Cuban (1988, p.193) also refers to leadership as an influence process. “Leadership, then
refers to people who bend the motivations and actions of others to achieving certain goals; it
implies taking initiatives and risks”. This definition shows that the process of influence is
purposeful in that it is intended to lead to specific outcomes. Fidler (1997, p.25) reinforces
this notion by claiming that “followers are influenced towards goal achievement”.
Stoll and Fink (1996) use the similar concept of ‘invitational’ leadership to explain how
leaders operate in schools. “Leadership is about communicating invitational messages to
individuals and groups with whom leaders interact in order to build and act on a shared and
evolving vision of enhanced educational experiences for pupils” (p.109).

Leadership and values

The leadership may be understood as “influence” but this notion is neutral in that it does not
explain or recommend what goals or actions should be sought through this process. However,
certain alternative constructs of leadership focus on the need for leadership to be grounded in
firm personal and professional values. Wasserberg (1999, p.158) claims that “the primary
role of any leader [is] the unification of people around key values”. From his perspective as a
secondary headteacher, he argues that these core values should be:

• schools are concerned with learning and all members of the school community are learners

• every member of the school community is valued as an individual

• the school exists to serve its pupils and the local community

• learning is about the development of the whole person and happens in and out of classrooms

• people prosper with trust, encouragement and praise (Wasserberg 1999, p.155).

Greenfield and Ribbins (1993) add that leadership begins with the ‘character’ of leaders,
expressed in terms of personal values, self-awareness and emotional and moral capability.

The researchers adopted a 360 degree perspective by interviewing teachers, parents,

governors and students as well as conducting three interviews with each principal. They
conclude that “good leaders are informed by and communicate clear sets of personal and
educational values which represent their moral purposes for the school” (p.53). They
elaborate on the nature of these core ‘personal values’: These concerned the modelling and
promotion of respect (for individuals), fairness and equality, caring for the well being and
whole development of students and staff, integrity and honesty. These core values were often
part of strong religious or humanitarian ethics which made it impossible to separate the
personal and the professional and which provide empirical support for those who write of the
essential moral purposes of those involved in teaching. (Day, Harris and Hadfield 2001, p.45)
Moos, Mahony and Reeves (1998) reinforce the importance of leaders’ “clear sets of
educational and personal values” and stress the need for a ‘clear personal vision’(p.70).

Leadership and vision

Vision is increasingly regarded as an important component of leadership. There are different

views about whether vision is an essential aspect of school leadership or, rather, a feature
which distinguishes successful from less successful leaders. Beare, Caldwell and Millikan
(1989), for example, say that “outstanding leaders have a vision of their schools – a mental
picture of a preferred future – which is shared with all in the school community” (p.99).
However, in drawing on the work of Bennis and Nanus (1985), they articulate 10 ‘emerging
generalisations’ (present authors’ emphasis) about leadership, four of which relate directly to
vision:

1. Outstanding leaders have a vision for their organisations.

The vision… may be a dream expressed in written form as our school will be a learning
centre in the community, where every child will enjoy coming to school and will acquire the
basic skills (p.107).

2. Vision must be communicated in a way which secures commitment among members of the
organisation

They cite Bennis and Nanus’ (1985, p.28) view of how this is achieved by visionary leaders:
Their visions or intentions are compelling and pull people towards them. Intensity coupled
with commitment is magnetic (p.109)

3. Communication of vision requires communication of meaning

They support Bennis and Nanus’ (1985, p.33) assessment that “the management of meaning,
[the] mastery of communication, is inseparable from effective leadership” (p.109). They add
that symbols are important for the communication of meaning.

4. Attention should be given to institutionalising vision if leadership is to be successful

Articulation and communication of the vision need to be supported by a process of
‘implanting’ the vision: The principal should work with others to implant the vision in the
structures and processes of the school, something that calls for the technical and human skills
of policymaking and planning (p.115).

These generalisations are essentially normative views about the centrality of vision to
effective leadership.

Some projects show the high level of support for the notion of visionary leadership but
Foreman’s (1998) review shows that, in practice, it remains highly problematic . “Inspiring a
shared vision is the leadership practice with which [heads] felt most uncomfortable” (Kouzes
and Posner 1996, p.24) while Fullan (1992a, p.83) adds that “vision building is a highly
sophisticated dynamic process which few organisations can sustain”. Elsewhere, Fullan
(1992b) is even more critical, suggesting that visionary leaders may damage rather than
improve their schools:

The current emphasis on vision in leadership can be misleading. Vision can blind leaders in a
number of ways… The high-powered, charismatic principal who “radically transforms the
school” in four or five years can… be blinding and misleading as a role model… my
hypothesis would be that most such schools decline after the leader leaves… Principals are
blinded by their own vision when they feel they must manipulate the teachers and the school
culture to conform to it.(Fullan 1992b, p.19)

Their study of 12 self-selected ‘effective’ schools shows that most heads were able to
describe “some sort of vision” but “they varied in their capacity to articulate the vision and
the visions were more or less sophisticated” (p.33). Moreover, the visions were rarely specific
to the school. They were “neither surprising nor striking nor controversial. They are closely
in line with what one might expect of the British system of education.”(p.35)

The Bolam (1993) study also casts doubt on the ability of heads to communicate the vision
effectively and to ensure that it is shared by staff. In most of the schools comparatively few
teachers were able to speak with any confidence about the elements of the vision. This would
suggest that… the headteachers of these schools had not consciously and deliberately set out
to communicate their vision to colleagues and to ensure that its influence permeated every
aspect of organisational life.(Bolam 1993, p.36)
Towards a definition of leadership

Leadership is a process of influence leading to the achievement of desired purposes.

Successful leaders develop a vision for their schools based on their personal and professional
values. They articulate this vision at every opportunity and influence their staff and other
stakeholders to share the vision. The philosophy, structures and activities of the school are
geared towards the achievement of this shared vision.

Leadership can be understood as a process of influence based on clear values and beliefs and
leading to a ‘vision’ for the school. The vision is articulated by leaders who seek to gain the
commitment of staff and stakeholders to the dream of a better future for the school, its
students and stakeholders.

The methodology of study

The study is based on the best UK studies and on the experience and practice of education in
Albania and focuses on the need for an Albanian school for its future. For this, the best
leadership modalities dealt with in world literature have been selected. The Albanian context
of education and its european integration challenges have been studied.

The purpose of the study is to assess the current situation and determine the extent of school
leadership's impact on school effectiveness and the need to develop leadership.

Human needs for an effective school and high scores are immeasurable and this is the
school's challenge in the 21st century.

Comparative analysis has also been used to highlight Albanian problems in comparison with
Anglo-Saxon prospects and solutions given the path followed by contemporary European
studies.

Analysis of documentary facts and case studies

According to the OECD (Opportunities for Development and Economic Cooperation)

leadership development is of a critical importance in many countries. A set of common
models includes: developing systematic leadership development strategies; Establishment of
new leadership development institutions; linking the actual management training with
leadership development; aiming at the profiles of the competent leadership as a qualification,
standard and context of the job; identifying and selecting potential leaders; training and
mentoring and promoting the development of leading leadership through the recognition of
the manager's responsibility for the development of other leaders. (OECD, 2001).

Different stages of leadership development

A career prospect for leadership development is argued that the professional development
activities of school leaders will be ongoing, in career and endless stages. (Peterson, in Davis
et al., 2005). They have to rely on pre-school education and continue throughout the career
stages of a director. Professional development takes place in forms suitable for different
stages in the career of the school principal or the leader and is a major, continuous part and a
coherent set of experiences for personal growth during the career and enhancement of
professional skills. Ideally, leadership development will start at the teacher level and will
continue for the leading candidates and first year inductors or directors. Continuous
professional development would be expanded and capitalized on the basis of the leader's
experience. An increased body of experience will be useful to outline just as well the mature
understanding of job requirements and the criteria for effectiveness. Continuous opportunities
will enable highly capable leaders to transfer their knowledge, skills and wisdom to new
leaders while gaining knowledge, renewal through mentoring and training.

In England, a leadership development strategy sets five stages of school leadership

development. Each stage has a range of a variety of development options based on the
predecessor, induction and further training of the perpetrators and other school leaders. In
Northern Ireland, there is training for emerging and aspiring leaders as well as the service of
managers and managers. The Scottish approach is set in box 4.2. Bush. T, Glover. D, 2003
Albania as a case study.

In the pre-university education law of 2012, it is decreed that the head of the educational
institution should at least receive the title of a qualified teacher. This coincides with at least
five years of work as a teacher and has received the first qualification as a teacher.

If a school curriculum for university education is made, it is considered that the specific
weight is taken up by the teaching methodologies and the methodologies of the respective
subjects. In Albania since 2011 have been accredited the professional and scientific master of
education administration, respectively in the public universities of Tirana, Durrës and
Elbasan University.

Although the efforts of these universities have made these programs, those few are stimulated
to follow the students especially the good ones. Likewise, from the verifications, it was found
that only a few of these students who had graduated from this school were selected in
managerial positions.
Regarding the quality of the students in one of these universities, it is concluded that only 9
pre-school educators have been registered in this classroom, with an average grade that has
just passed the admission threshold.

Conclusions

1. Education is a very important investment, both personal and social, and nationally.

2. Continuous school decentralization has increased leadership responsibility for achieving

school quality.

3. An important element influencing the quality improvement is also the level of development
of school leadership.

4. A well-developed leadership builds up an effective and quality school.

5. Special master programs must be pre-requisites for school leaders.

6. Continuous training of school leaders and managers for their training needs to cope with
new challenges.
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